The Start of Reason and Havoc
by Artimashunt
Summary: Rissa "Reason" Havoc wants to become a state alchemists in a time where Alchemy has been disliked for years. All her friends do their best to help her... but could they be doing more harm than good? Post series about 20 years or so, possible spoilers, more brootherhood than original, M for future chapters. Most characters are children of one or two original characters.
1. Prologue Part 1

Prolougue

"Do you, Roy, take Riza to be your lafully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"And Riza, do you take Roy to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do"

Those words were spoken, and not a second later Jean Havoc's heart smashed into a tiny million little pieces, even as he held the hand of a dark haired beauty. For years he had been madly in love, but he had seen the fire in Riza's eyes as she looked at Roy, so he never spoke up. He had mistaken her love as just a passing phase, as had most of the boys Riza had loved in the past.

Pressure was suddenly put on the hand being held in his left hand. Havoc looked at his black haired beauty, a lady any man would be greatful to have. She was beautiful, smart, knew how to cook... and yet Havoc would never be satisfied it it wasn't Riza. But obviously he couldn't have her. So he just smiled a soft half hearted smile at his black haired beauty and squeezed her hand back.

Behind him, and old croney hand that belonged to his mother tapped the two on their shoulder. "You'll be next, I'm sure of it!" Leeane - Havoc's beauty - beamed proudly, but Havoc simply shrugged... she wasn't wrong though.

Not many months later Havoc and Leeane were standing side by side, giving the same vows... though Havoc barely noticed his words passing through his lips. As he looked into the crowd, there he saw Riza and Roy, much in the same position he had been, but both Riza and Roy seemed content and happy... it shattered Havoc's heart even further.


	2. Prologue Part 2

4 years later

Havoc's three year old child was walking around with paint all over her face. What he didn't know was it was the paint his wife used to draw transmutation circles. Havoc's daughter, Rissa who had been nicknamed Reason by her mother after her first word, had just been with her mother - learning at an early age to draw the transmutation circles that would change her life. This was a secret her mother kept from Havoc ever since they first met.

"Rissa, what have you got all over you!" Rissa was the only thing, other than Riza, that Havoc truly loved. He didn't love Leanne, not even close, and maybe Leanne knew that, but she didn't seem to care. Their relationship seemed to be purely for show, and they both knew that.

"Daddy! Daddy! I was painting with mumma! I'm no good, mumma is! Mumma is!" Havoc raised his eyebrow , but instead of asking further questions he enveloped his daughter in a hug, getting paint all over his uniform. If only he had bothered to know his wife was turning their daughter into one of the things he had come to hate the most -alchemists.

Leanne walked up from the basement - an area Havoc dissliked thanks to the cold - her hand had ink as well, though it wasn't all over.

"I see you two were having fun, but i think it's this one's bed time." Havoc lifted his daughter up into his arms and carried her up the stairs and put her to sleep. When he walked down again, Leanne had already left - most likely into their bedroom.


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Rough Beginnings

Another 16 years later

The start of our story

Rissa's left hand clenched as the constant repetitive needle hit the palm of her right hand. She couldn't move her right hand, else she make the tattoo artist mess up. The design the man was making on her palm was one of her own creation, and she had 3 more coming up after this. The needles hurt, but it was nothing she wasn't able to handle, as an alchemist she had gone through a lot of pain to get where she has.

"Almost done with the first one miss, these are quite interesting drawings you've come up with, would you mind telling me were they've come from?" Said the man. Rissa was calm and started to breathe evenly. In this day and age, alchemy had become a frowned upon practise by the majority of common society. She was always careful when the subject came up.

"They're just some doodles I came up with and liked." Alchemy might have been a disliked practice, but there were still state Alchemists - the world would always need the help of Alchemy whether the people of the world liked it or not - but it had become so frowned upon that most people had forgotten the gist of alchemy was. Things like the transmutation circle the artist was sketching on her hand.

"Well they're very detailed, especially the next few, those may give me some troube, especially that one you want on the base of your foot. You do know that's going to hurt a lot, right?" Rissa wasn't surprised the otherones looked more detailed, the first one was there to represent and invoke the change in air, and air was a very simple element, though secretely complex.

"I know it will, but it's worth it, I can promise you that."

"Whatever you say miss." and continued with the design.

3 hours later each of her limbs ached and she could barely walk. Each hand and each foot had a new tattoo on them, each was a transmutation circle that represented an element of the earth. Some would think this was just pain she was putting herself through was unnessisary, but Rissa found the use of transmutation circles tiresome, ans since she had always had an admiration towards tattoos she thought they would be a great midway point.

Rissa was heading home, the one place she really felt comfortable. At home she had a father who spoiled her - though she had never turned rotten - and a mother who shared alchemy with her when everyone else dissliked it. At home she learned everything she ever used in life - she had never been properly schooled but she was smarter than most people she came across.

She was a block away from home and the familiar scent of smoke filled her nose, her father had always been a smoker no matter how hard he tried to stop it for the health of Rissa. Only steps away from home Rissa realized that it wasn't the right kind of smoke - this wasn't tobacco, it was the smell of burning. Not just normal barbeque, but the kind of burning that could only mean a big fire.

Rissa flew on her feet, as nimble and agile as ever until she came up to her house which had black smoke billowing out of every window. "MOM! DAD!" She screeched. He hands met together, as if she was praying, but she seperated them and puched her hands out. Jets of water spurted from her left hand and into the front door, which left a gap gif enough for her to run through. "MOM!" but she saw no one around.

That is until a stumbling figure came out of the kitchen, it was obviously her father who was a great deal taller than her mother. Rissa flew on her feet to him and grabbed him around the waiste, putting his arm around her neck. Rissa half dragged half walked her father out of the burning house, outside were the firemen who always seemed to show up moments too late. The two had just stumbled out of the door frame when the door collapsed forward along with half of the house.

A fireman ran to her and her father and helped Jean onto a stretcher while a different fireman led her to a seat where an oxygen mask was waiting for her use. She didn't need it, what with the air alchemy rune on her right hand that could do the job just as well, but she took the mask to make her seem normal. When she had her breath back, she remembered her mother. Rissa flew off at a run yet again but a young fireman - not much older than herself - caught her around the stomach.

"I'm sorry, but it's suicide to go in there."

"But my mother! She's in there I know it!"

"I can't let you go in there."

"MY MOTHER IS IN THERE! YOU BASTARD, LET ME GO!" but the fireman kept his arm right there while she struggled.


	4. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Who knew?

Rissa sat in a booth at a coffee shop at the far corner of the store, opisite to her was the fireman who had kept her from a suicide attempt at saving her mother. Tears streamed down her face which was red with both anger and frustration, but she didn't sob, and she was breathing normally. The fireman handed Rissa a tissue from his coat pocket, which she took greatfully and mopped up her eyes.

Rissa looked at her fingers where ash still layed, what had this been? Was it the ashes of their curtains? Or the dinning room table? Maybe even her father's hair! There was no way to tell, fire turned everything monotone. The ash was always the same terrible shade of grey, and there was no difference beteen a burned to ash pillow or a peice of important paper... it was just ash.

"I'm really sorry about your mom, if she was in there of course." The fireman said. Rissa let out a small gasp, surprised by his voice in the utter silence of the shop. The shop had only agreed to stay open because of the fire, and because the firemen might need a pick-me-up every hour or so.

"It's not your fault, though I should thank you for keeping me from a suicide mission." She said, the tone of her voice dropping with every word. She ended the sentence with a desperate sigh, and she sprawled across the table. "I'm Rissa by the way." She said through her arm and coat.

"Sorry, I couldn't quite catch that." he said, and Rissa twisted her neck so that her chin was resting ontop of her elbow.

"My name's Rissa."

"Ohhhh, I already knew that." with those words Rissa raised an eyebrow, confused. "You probably don't recognize me anymore, we haven't seen each other since... hmm, well since I went off for an all boys highschool and you and Iris went off for your all girls school." A lightbulb appeared over Rissa's head, metaphorically of course, and she remembered the man in front of her - she should have known though.

"Adrian? It's you? Damn, since when were 19-year-olds allowed to join the firemen?"

"I'm 20, you should remember that. I'm only in training though, they started a program for aspiring firfighters."

"Thats sounds kinda boring, starting your career at only 20." she said as a passing thought, and rolling her eyes.

"I don't know about that, but when you were 5 you were certainly determined to become a state alchemist. I don't see how this is any different." Adrian said and Rissa's eyes widened. She shushed him as loudly as she could.

"Hey! Don't say that stuff out loud, you know alchemists are dissliked now-a-days!" she said in a hushed tone, but it was Adrian's turn to roll his eyes.

"Oh come on! Alchemists are no different than any other people, they choose if they're going to be good or bad, and they're punished the same way when they go against the law." Adrian was fervernt with the words he spoke, he was sure of every word that passed through his lips, he always had been, ever since the two were little.

"Yeah but alchemists are also harder to stop, you know with the way you talk you would have been a great politician, it's not to late to go to law school."

"That's why Fuhrer Mustang is recruiting more state Alchemists and putting levels to them - so he can keep tabs on as many Alchemists as possible." Adrian continued, completely ignoring Rissa's comment about law school.

"I suppose, you know it's kind of weird to hear you talking about your dad like that."

"My father-"

"There it is again! You never call him dad, or pops, or whatever. Always father, nothing else. Your so formal with him it's as if you regret his existence."

"My father is the Fuhrer, and I should refer to him with dignity when I speak about him when and his leadership deeds." Rissa huffed at his words and crossed her arms on the table, laying her chin back down on her arms.

"How long before the fire's out, do you think?"

"My guess is an hour or so till everything stops burning, and it should cool down by tomorrow morning. Why do you ask?"

Rissa looked up at the sky, that was obviously covered by the roof of the store, as if she was looking to heaven. Rissa wasn't religious, well not exactly. The world around her believed in one ultimate being that controled the spindle of fate that people were apart of. Rissa didn't think that was true. "I want to search for my mother, and anything of mine that might be left useable."

"Are you sure you'll be up for that? What if you find something you didn't want to see? What if Anami got caught in the fire, that would be traumatic."

"Well it'd be better than sitting around waiting for someone to tell me what's missing!" Rissa was standing up, staring at Adrian, her hands on the table. Her hands were quivering and her whole being was shaking with anger, and tears started to well up in her eyes again. She sat back down in a huff and took the tissue Adrian had offered yet again. "Do you... always keep tissues in your pocket?" she said through sniffles.

"In my fireman's jacket, yeah. The ash is always getting in my eyes and making me tear up."

"Are you sure it was the ash?"


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: It wasn't a dream

Rissa woke up, a scream at her lips, her breath short and heart pounding. Adrian's feet could be heard from down the hall as they ran to check on Rissa. Rissa held the blankets over her protectively when he opened the door, but her face was covered in the fear she felt inside and out.

"Rissa! Are you alright?" he said, he had a button up shirt that had just been put on at the last second and some flannel pajama pants. Rissa snapped out of it, shaking her head and the mane of black hair on it.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry I had to wake you up..." Rissa looked down at her hands which were still shaking. What had she dreamt about that had scared her so much? She couldn't remember it, it was worse than trying to cup water in her hands and keep it there - it was more like trying to catch a slippery eel that kept just out of reach. The only detail she remembered was her mother's face.

"It's alright Reason, I don't actually sleep most nights." Rissa had almost forgotten her nickname, Adrian and Iris never called her Rissa... always reason. They two had nicknames along the same lines as Rissa's own, but they had never stuck as a constant name like her's had.

"What?"

"I'm an insomniac, remember?" Adrian said, there was no shame in his voice. He had been an insomniac since he was young and just dealt with it - he refused to seek alchemic help.

"I'd forgotten about that... well I guess that was a wasted apology! I only have so many you know, aybe next time I wont be able to say I'm sorry" She says as she smiles broadly at her own little joke. She had grown up a rather impolite kid, chosing sarcasm over manners... much like her own father on some accounts. Adrian rolled his eys at Rissa.

"Come on, I can smell the bacon, my mom must have already started breakfast." He said and turned on his heel - probably to go put on proper clothes. Rissa nodded to hersself and went to go put on new clothing... when she realized she didn't have any. All of her clothing had probably burnned down with the house.

Rissa sneaked across the hallway, heading to the room on her right. It was Iris' room. Rissa knocked lightly on the door, Iris was a heavy sleeper and very little could wake her, and the knock was only out of courtesy. It was odd though, Rissa and Iris concidered each other like sisters, but in this moment Rissa was acting like a barely known guest.

"DAMMIT ADRIAN, I TOLD YOU TO-" Iris said, or screamed rather, until she opened the door to see Rissa's ash stained self. "Reason, what are you doing here? Wait, you're clothes, were you at the fire Adrian was at yesterday?"

"You could say that" Rissa sniffed. "It was my house they were at, it's almost just ash now." Rissa might have continued but Iris flung herself at her best friend and enveloped her in a big hug. Even with Iris' small stature her hugs were all bone cracking, and made Rissa's eyes go blurry with the suddenness.

"I'm so sorry Rissa! I wish I had known, I just went to sleep, I should have thought about the adress! Adrian had said your street, no wonder he was so worried!" Rissa though Iris was making a big deal out of... well something, but not that big of a something.

"It's really not you fault, but I needed to ask, could I maybe borrow some clothes? I know we aren't the same size but there must be something you have that I can wear?" Iris nodded and dragged Rissa into her room. It was simple, but cluttered, which was how it had been since she was young. Iris had gone straight to her closet and started throwing garment after garment onto her bed. Rissa gave it a confused look.

"I don't need this much clothing, just one outfit, then I can get-"

"Oh shut it Reason and accept a gift for once! Seriously, it's not like the end of the world if you take a few outfits from me if they fit." the enthusiastic girl said as she threw a pair of shoes on the bed. "Now let's see if this fits , here try this dress!"

"I don't wear dresses Iris."

"Oh yeah..." Iris said deflatedly "but it's so small it'd be a shirt on you!" Iris was right, it was a skimpy dress on Iris, and it would be down right scandelous for Rissa to wear as anything but a shirt. It was a pretty little navey dress that would hug her figure. "Come on, try it on with this!" Iris continued shoving a pair of black pants and buckled knee-high boots. Rissa was caught off gaurd but she went into the corner behind Iris' vintage room divider.

"Do you really think these pant's will fit?" Rissa said as she tossed her shirt over the divider at where she though Iris was. Iris got a face full of ashey cotton as she tried to answer Rissa.

"It might be short, but those are what the boots are for!" her muffled voice said. Minutes later Rissa walked out from behind the divider, feeling awkward in her new outfit. This was the most "stylish" she had been since before her mother stopped picking out her clothing.

"I look ridic-" Rissa started to say but Iris' squeel of excitement stopped her midway.

"OMYGOSHREASONYOULOOKSOGOOD" and Iris squeezed Rissa again until she couldn't breathe.

"Yeah-yeah ok enough of that, can we go down for breakfast?" She said, without really waiting for an answer as she pryed off Iris and started to walk to the stairs.


	6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Chaos That Follows Her

Rissa sat down at the table just outside of the kitchen where the delectable scent was coming from. As far as she could tell there was certainly bacon, and the smell of bacon was so overwhelming there was nothing else she could smell wafting from the kitchen. Iris plopped down on the chair across from Adrian and right next to Rissa. They sat in a silence that stifled Rissa's breathing. It wasn't awkward, but she could feel the twins doing their best not to say anything that would start Rissa off on waterworks - which use had been so common it was annoying. Rissa needed to breathe.

"Iris, I forgot to ask, did you manage to pass the state alchemist's test?" Iris' face lit up with joy, she loved to talk about her self - but more importantly her accomplishments. Iris took a good amount of pride in her work, and she loved doing whatever she did even more than a 16 year old girl loved her boyfriend - Rissa learned that literally.

"Yes I really did! You wouldn't believe what my code name is now!" Iris said, cheer infecting her voice like a plague "The Spark Alchemist!"

It made sense, Iris had been a skilled alchemist since she was younger, when her father had started giving her private lessons - though it was later that Rissa had been taught. Iris' mother, Riza, had been very against Iris learning Alchemy from her father - who was still known as The Flame Alchemist rather than Fuhrer Mustang at the time. Riza had wanted flame alchemy to die with Roy, but with the birth of Iris and her interest in alchemy, that wish was crushed... to an extent.

Iris couldn't be considered a flame alchemist, though the roots of the Alchemy she created herself did come from the alchemy her father had taught her. Iris had perfected the art of Electric Alchemy - a fabled form of Alchemy that always ended in explosions when someone tried to attempt it. She had also managed to call on lightning even if there was only one cloud in the sky - weather didn't hamper her abilities like it did to her father. Once she had even hit Rissa in practice with a near perfect sky - she survived only because it wasn't a thunderstorm, those shocks would fry her inside and out.

"I think that's appropriate, don't you? A little girly for my taste though. Did you get a pocket watch?"

"No, I didn't, that's not standard for state alchemists, remember? The pocket watches are too easy to lose - Edward Elric proved that on many occasions." Iris said as her mother walked to the group with big serving platters of bacon, french toast, and eggs. They all drooled at the food before Iris re-composed herself for a minute. "No, now they have these" Iris was speaking as she got up and walked to the front room, when she returned she was holding a sheathed blade in a thin scabbard. She unsheathed it to unveil a steel blade that wasn't at all thick - it was almost as thin as a fencing saber.

"Do they all come like that?" Reason asked with considerable admiration.

"Oh heck no, everyone gets their prefered style of sword." Iris sheathed the sword in a fluid moment. "Dad said it was because cities and towns were tired of those potholes they kept getting when Alchemists needed a weapon and they used the earth." Rissa and Adrian both chuckled, but stopped oddly at the same time. "What's so funny?" Iris questioned. Adrian and Reason both flustered a little bit before Reason came up with a proper answer.

"It's just, of all the things to complain about they choose potholes over - like - singed houses that you and your dad leave?" Reason said, still a bit of that laugh caught in her voice. Iris huffed indignantly.

"I resent that Reason! I'm not that-"

"What about the time you struck a tree?" Rissa countered.

"Well yeah but-"

"The time your hair nearly fried the roots?" Adrian said, backing Reason up.

"That was not my fault-"

"What about the time you caught a whole field on fire!" Adrian and Rissa said in unison and then burst out laughing from the memory and almost fell over their plates of food.

"Guys, it wasn't that funny.." Iris said, trying weakly to protect her diminished pride. I wasn't working.

"You're all bickering like the children you use yo be - i thought you were all grown adults now?" it was Riza, her stern voice caught Rissa by surprise and cyt her voice mid laugh along with Adrian. "See, that's better. Now Rissa, tell me, when were you planning on applying for State Alchemist?"

"I was thinking next week," Reason said, determination in her voice. In honesty, not a single soul around her knew the kind of alchemy she practised. She had hid it from Roy simply because she wanted to surprise him - a law had recently been passed saying that the Fuhrer was to attend the testing of all State Alchemists. She couldn't trust Iris to not go blabbing it, She could have told Adrian but it just never felt like something he would care about, and she just never bothered telling Riza. However they all knew she was skilled.

When Rissa looked over to Adrian, something in his dark eyes - so much like his own father's - something in those dark chasms there was some feeling of betrayal Rissa was picking up. Rissa was good at reading people - Iris and Adrian especially - but she had no idea why Adrian could possibly be looking at her like that. If only she could put 2 and 2 together and not get 5.

Before it could get awkward as Adrian and Rissa simply stared at each other there was a sudden blast of heat and the kitchen was set a blaze.

"The hell!" Iris and Adrian screamed in unison. Riza was already moving out of her chair walking backwards.

"Get back!" Rissa screamed Pushing at Iris. When they tried to protest she screeched "You will suffocate if you don't get your asses back!" She spun on her heel and face the fire. Her hands met not too far in front of her body and when she released her right palm was glowing an intense white. She was using her alchemy to pull the oxygen away from the kitchen. The fire was dying quickly with no fuel to let it keep burning. When it was almost gone she slammed her hands together and forced the hydrogen and oxygen in the air to join. There was a slight mist in the kitchen coming down slowly while steam rose from the cooling kitchen.

"Reason..." it was Adrian, he had grabbed the fire extinguisher while Rissa had been working on saving the house. "Wha-"

"I'm more than adept at my own alchemy Adrian, and that's only a share of it." She wish she had been at home when the fire that burned it to a rubble had started, she would have been able to save it had she been there. It had just engulfed to much of the house by the time she had gotten there it became pointless.

"I-I don't know how it started, I turned off the gas..." it was Riza, starstruck by what had just happened.

"Don't worry Mrs. Mustang, I'm sure it was some fluke." Reason said, though she herself didn't believe so... something was going wrong. Why was chaos following me wherever I went? "I'd like to se my house now."


	7. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Wreckage

Her fingers drummed on the side of the car door as Adrian turned the corner onto Reason's street. Iris was in the back yammering about something Rissa didn't even bother to think about, she just wanted to search her house so she could tell her dad what was left when she went to see him. She would normally do it the other way around, but upon arriving at the hospital the group found that Rissa's father wasn't taking visitors... though they wouldn't tell Reason why.

Despite the wooden facade on the front, the house was actually brick, so it had stood against the fire relatively well. It was only a shell though, no doubt the inside was destroyed. She sat there staring at the house, she didn't know how long, but it was ended when Iris tapped on the window of the car. She had obviously gotten out while Reason was too busy staring at the nothingness to notice.

"Are you coming or not?" Iris mouthed, and all Reason had to do was nod before Iris smiled and walked away. Rissa swung her legs out and stood up on the street. Walking to the house she knew, the minute she entered there was no turning back. Inside that house would be a mess she could never clear up with any kind of alchemy. The memories there were gone.

Rissa stopped herself at the threshold, looking in to the charred house. Walls had fallen, furniture had become crumbling piles of ash, nothing resembled the house she had lived in her whole life. Tears were welling up in Rissa's eyes, how could this have happened to her? She took a step in, pushing away any rubble that was bothering her. The main stairway was still intact out of some miracle. She tried to walk on it, but the step broke under her foot, it was obviously too weak.

Reason sighed and fell to her knees, and using the ashes around her she drew a transmutation circle. Slamming her hands down on the ground the stairs, and a few objects around them, turned into a ladder. It was rough, but there was nothing else she could do with what was around her. Climbing it she took the first door on the left and found her room. Well, what was left.

"REASON! Where are you?" Adrian Shouted across the house.

"I'm..." Rissa called and walked into her room. The floors were unstabled, and she did her best not to walk on the destroyed parts. She would have continue her sentance but a glint caught her eye from a pile of ashes that had been were her dresser stood only hours ago. With disregaurd to the floor around her she jumped to the glint and found her old jewelry box. She never wore any jewelry save for the cauduseus earings she wore now and the locket that was always hidden under her shirt.

Jewlry boxes have other uses though, as Rissa's mother had said.

"Rissa..." it was Adrian, he had found her even though she had forgotten to answer his call. He couldn't help but gape at the soot stained Reason sitting in ashes. Tears were filling in her eyes, and Adrian was astounded having known Rissa to be the strongest person he knew. Before yesterday he could count the amount of times Rissa had cried infront of anyone on one finger... now he was running out of fingers on his first hand.

"I need to search the other rooms..." Reason dried her eyes and stood up, passing by Adrian without so much as a second look.

A few hours passed, and not much else was salvaged, and the attic had been completely collapsed. Even with Alchemy Rissa was forced to leave that part of the house untouched - though she was positive that was where her mother was. All through her childhood her mother had preffered the attic to any other room of the house, and no doubt she was there when the fire started.

Reason left the skeleton of a house behind, Iris and Adrian not far off, holding only her jewelry box and her father's favorite lighter.

"I'm not coming back, not later this week, not in a month, not even in the years to come... This part of my life has ended, though not of my own choice. I'm not a child anymore, and I'll make my own path without looking back at this place." Reason said, determined to follow this.

"I know that sounds heroic and all Reason, but you can't seriously mean it! You lived here since you were born, you can't possibly just forget it!" Iris said, her spunk shining through in that feminine voice of hers.

"Not forget... I don't intend to let my memories leave me, I'm just not going to look back." She said, and got in the passengers seat of the car, waiting to go to the hospital. As Adrian drove them away, Rissa took the last look at her house she ever would.


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Regrets? Maybe...

Rissa walked into the hospital with some air of dignity, more than she had the last time she had been to the wretched place that smelled of chemicals and death. Wait, where had that thought come from? Rissa stopped in her tracks, _since when did death have a smell? _She thought to herself, and yet that was the only way she could describe the smell that hid behind the smell of bleach and cleaning supplies. Reason shook herself out and walked straight to the elevators.

Reason's father was on the top floor, the recovery ward. It was a long elevator ride with Iris and Adrian at either side of her, and the ding going off every few seconds. She felt like she was going to explode if she couldn't get out and see her father soon, maybe the stairs would have been faster, at least then Rissa could have controled her own speed.

Finally the door opened and Rissa was almost bolting to room 804, the room her father was in. She managed to stop herself, holding onto the frame of the doorway as she looked in. There in a hospital bed was her father, gnawing on something - probably gum - and playing a game of solitaire. He looked up from his game, and gave Reason that chapped lipped smile she remembered so well. Her father's blonde-grey hair was much shorter than it had been, and missing in some patches. No doubt it had been burned off like that.

"Dad..." Rissa said, and passed the first bed that held a midnight-black haired patient, and went straight into Jean Havoc's open arms. He smelled of mint and smoke, the tobacco kind. "How did you manage to get a pack of cigarettes in here?" Reason said, a knowing smile on her face.

"Wha-" he cut himself short, and shook his head, a small string of laughter coming from his chest. He should have known better than thinking he could get something passed his daughter. "Your Godfather Heymans was in here not too long ago, he brought them in." Rissa's father looked almost like a school boy who had got caught playing a prank on a teacher, an odd but familiar look on the old soldier.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Rissa dug in her pocket and pulled out the engraved lighter and passed it over. "It's out of lighter fluid, but it's the only thing of yours I could scrounge up..." Reason's father looked at the lighter and sighed, though Reason didn't know why. Adrian and Iris pulled up chairs beside Rissa and they sat and chatted for a while. That is, until the unfortunate...

Out of this air, Jean Havoc's hand snatched at his daughter's, and pulled it close to his eyes. Rissa had talked animatedly as always, and she had been careless enough to let her tattooed palm face her father for more than a second. Everyone stopped talking, even Iris, as they waited with trepidation for Rissa's father's reaction.

"Rissa..." Her father began, he was the only person who constantly called her Rissa, never Reason.

"Dad I-" Reason also began, but the look of anger on her father's face cut her short.

"What are these?" Jean said, the words were harsh and icy with anger.

"... They're transmutation circles dad - I've decided to try to become an official alchemist." Reason said, her voice quivering slightly. She had meant to break this to her father gently, but she had been careless and forgot to hide the tattoos she had gotten.

"DAMMIT RISSA!" There was rage in his voice, he was so loud that the black-haired patient stirred slightly in his sleep. "You drop something like this on me! Why your mother would-"

"Mom is the one who taught me..." Reason said, her voice soft.

"What?" His voice was still angry, but it had lost some of the force he had.

"Mom taught me how to use alchemy, how to draw the circles, everything! She's been teaching me since I could hold a piece of charcoal in my hands, I didn't go behind your back, she did." She was staring at her father, her face as emotionless as ever.

Jean Havoc was about to make a comment - who knew what about - when he went into a violent coughing fit. The machines he was hooked up to started to blare warnings, his heart rate was going down fast, and a nurse ran in. Behind her was another nurse and a doctor, the doctor walked up to Rissa's father and placed a mask over his mouth. As the damaged man took a few breaths through the coughs, he realized the doctor was trying to knock him out. Jean tried to look at his daughter but his eyes were closed, and he was unconscious before he could see her face again.

"I'm sorry dad..." Rissa said as the doctor wiped his brow.

"I'm sorry about that, you three, if we don't knock him out cold during one of these fits then he could very well start coughing up blood - which would be very worrying." The dark haired doctor said. The 'you three' comment had made Rissa look back and see that indeed Adrian and Iris had been there the whole time, somehow she had forgotten about the twins. The doctor continued, "We're going to need to completely cut him off of his cigarettes, if we don't he'll end up killing himself before he can heal from this."

Rissa sighed, "Thanks Doc,"

The two nurses and doctor walked out of the room, but only seconds later a blonde burst through the door. She looked about Reason's age, maybe a year or two younger, and she also seemed to be in quite the rush.

"I KNOW you're awake Niklaus! Don't you _dare_ pretend to sleep when you've wrecked my automail so badly!" She said, her golden eyes glinting with malice.


End file.
